Grieving the Loss of John MacArthur: A Reflection
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
Dr. John MacArthur’s passing at 86 years old sparked deep sadness. His consistent, steadfast preaching over 56 years provided reassurance and stability in a chaotic world. MacArthur’s dedication to the Gospel and call for faithfulness remains a profound legacy, marking the end of an exceptional era in Christian leadership.
Like many others, the passing into heaven of Dr. John MacArthur was not unexpected … yet it was very unexpected. We are never quite ready to let go of a beloved person in our life. Even though this venerable pastor-teacher was 86 years old, and even though he had been laboring under heavy health issues for two years, even though as he said himself, (‘I realize I am on the last lap’), our hearts weren’t ready.
MacArthur’s passing hit me hard. I was not expecting that. I cried actual tears, not the norm for me. At each viewing of a video tribute, I cried again. I had to stop listening, reading, and watching, because I was so sad.
Being me, I’ve mulled over why I am grieving, when I had never even met him. Yes, he had served my dear friend who attended his church and his seminary. He had served another dear friend in his people counseling him. He had served me digitally through his sermons and printed books and pamphlets. I loved him for all that. But why this deep sadness as if he was a member of my own family?
Two reasons why. Reassurance. Anchor.
Let me unpack those two concepts.
It was reassuring to see him ascend those steps at Grace Community Church each week for 56 years. It was reassuring to see him place his hands on either side of the pulpit and take the deep breath. His back bowed as he hunched over his well-worn Bible. His voice picked up by the microphone, and an exaltation would begin. His lengthy, consistent presence in the pulpit, preaching rightly, without blot or stain, was reassuring.
In a world where people have hidden agendas, in a world where pastors and teachers fall into sin, in a world where preachers view the pulpit as a job opportunity and hop from one to another, MacArthur was there. Always. Just there. His steadiness was reassuring. As long as MacArthur preached in the pulpit, all was right in the Christian world.
He loved the Lord, and he loved his people. It was the greatest joy of his life to connect those two- his people with the word of the Lord, to their edification and Jesus’ glory. It was his only agenda. The purity and consistency of that, just THAT, expands the heart.
Sure, there are many other preachers who serve a long time in their churches. James Bell, served 50 years in his pulpit, Tedd Mathis- 20 years, my own pastor – 10 years, and many others in all the corners of the world. Pastors laboring week in-week out to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are hidden from the general public. Pastors in obscurity just living their lives out within their calling. We know they are there because Jesus said he would grow His church and the GOOID NEWS would go out to all the world. But we saw MacArthur. Seeing the promise of Jesus being fulfilled before our eyes is reassuring.
There was no cultural clutter from him. No side scandals to distract. No confusion as to what our lives were all about. They were about Jesus and His word and growing in His likeness. Period. This is reassuring, as the starkness and pin-point focus was always there. It’s reassuring to live with something that is steadily and consistently released. Does a doctor want your intravenous drip to start and stop in halts and spurts? No, the drip must be steady to be effective. And that was MacArthur.
That stability was an anchor. The anchor line tethered from the pulpit to the people and up to heaven. The consistency, stability, steadiness in an inconsistent, flaky, fickle world stood out. Because MacArthur was steady with his agenda of preaching the word and the world only, the light from that pulpit grew into a towering lighthouse. Anchored to that, we felt secure. His presence in the pulpit was an anchor and a light we could always look to. An anchor to the God he proclaimed and a consistent lifeline to the word of God. MacArthur embodied the word and preached the word. Thus, anchored in the word, were reassured.
And one day the Lord said ‘bring John home’, and the anchor was raised, its line coiled up, and those who were part of its stability are temporarily overthrown…drifting. Oh, we will surely reattach, the word of God and our own pastors are the real anchors. But to be upended like this takes a moment to re-settle. During this momentary disarrangement, it takes a bit to regain our balance.
I was also pondering MacArthur’s nearly final words. His admonition to his family being the same he received from his own father in similar circumstances: “Stay faithful.”
You may or may not know this was MacArthur’s life-long byword and battle-cry. He was troubled by those who did not stay faithful. As a young man, MacArthur was startled and grieved when a friend left the faith. His consistent care that people be genuinely converted was a plumb line in all he did. He pondered this to the extent that he wrote his Master’s thesis on Judas. Apostatizing was an anguish to him. He continued that exploration when called to pastor GCC in 1969, because his very first sermon was based on Matthew 7:21-23 and titled How to Play Church. False converts playing church was a grief to his shepherding soul.
John MacArthur said: “My interest in Judas was what led to all the books I’ve written on the gospel. My interest in Judas was how do you distinguish a true believer from a false believer? What was going on in that guy’s life? And that’s what launched me into that study. And you will remember that it was prompted by a young man that I met when I was in high school, college, and seminary who defected from the faith.” (Source)
Stay faithful. There is no better model of that byword than John MacArthur, at least in our lifetimes. He was uniquely raised up by the Lord and a blessing to the global church. We knew it at the time and we will know it even more as time pushes away from the raw emotion and history writes this chapter. The people living in Spurgeon’s time knew that the specially blessed era had ended with his passing. They knew. This era is ended now too. It was special, and there is none other like John MacArthur. Bless and praise God for HIS faithfulness to raise up men, some higher than others, to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus Christ.
